For this past weekend's Mission to Mars party at EVE (hosted by perpetually hustling post-disco impresarios, Nightdrive, as well as Poplife), most people were dressed straight-up Saturday Night Normal. And we're not sure we saw a single person wearing a costume pertaining to the evening's sci-fi theme.

Bonde do Rolê

Photo by Teresa Liberatore

Bonde do Rolê

Photo by Teresa Liberatore

Bonde do Rolê

Photo by Teresa Liberatore

But who gives a fancy fuck about what people are wearing when the tunes are top quality.

We arrived just as opening act Bonde do Rolê took the stage like Samba-obsessed aerobics instructors. And even though the crowd was still warming up, this trio of Brazilian MCs performed like they were on a parade float in the middle of Rio De Janeiro during the peak of carnival.

Los Angeles's Poolside needs to change its damn name. We were expecting something on the beach-y spectrum that extends from Vampire Weekend to Washed Out (and runs perpendicular to Wavves). But we were treated to something much more unique.

This quartet of musician's musicians quite successfully ooze sensual, shimmering, new dance music. But Poolside have so expertly extracted the most decadent qualities of live band electro à la LCD Soundsystem, Fleetwood Mac-style yacht rock, and the serious chops of a fucking band, that it would appear they are forging something new entirely.

Everyone on the stage managed more than one instrument. And while the songs pulsed with the romantic throb of pop music, the chops at hand could not be ignored.

Com Truise

Photo by Teresa Liberatore

Com Truise

Photo by Teresa Liberatore

Com Truise

Photo by Teresa Liberatore

Headliners Com Truise also augmented digital sounds with some actual drum kit percussion. And we appreciated main dude Seth Haley's komische-friendly programming, which at its most out-there recalled Oneohtrixpointnever. But we couldn't help feel like they'd been upstaged, so slightly, by Poolside. The rest of the audience, however, didn't seem to think so as they vigorously boogied from the top of the set to its bottom.

Happy Halloween, hipsters!

Critic's Notebook

The Crowd: Surprisingly under-Halloween'd norms, college kids, nightlife stylists, not a single person dressed in space-themed attire.

From the Crowd: A Poolside superfan kept screaming, "She loves you!" at the dude in the band wearing a scarf, while pointing to her friend.

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